Q: As a dedicated San Jose sidewalk biker, may I weigh-in on the bike vs. pedestrian drama?

Pedestrians, please remain calm. It’s really not that bad. I’ve been riding my bike on downtown sidewalks for years for one simple reason: cars tend to run over bikes in the road, even in dedicated bike lanes. Not to mention the major thoroughfares that don’t even have bike lanes like The Alameda and Santa Clara Street. It’s actually very dangerous for bikers on some streets. Please cut us some slack.

When I come across a pedestrian on my bike, I slow down, yield right of way and carefully maneuver around the fragile pedestrian. And I’ve never had a complaint. I’m also a frequent pedestrian on these same sidewalks and I’ve never been run off the walk, knocked over or otherwise traumatized by a passing bicyclist. Let’s move on and focus on some real-world traffic problems.

Tony MarekSan Jose

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A: Riding a bike on the sidewalk is not permitted in the downtown area, on San Fernando, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th streets and in the Willow Glen Business District, on Lincoln Avenue. The sidewalk bicycling prohibition on these streets does not apply for kids 12 or younger and adults accompanying them, or public safety officials like police.

Q: Please can they just remove like one crosswalk on Lincoln? I’m a fan overall of the road diet using the center lane for turning vehicles, which is a huge improvement and has definitely decreased road rage, and there are plenty of parking options if you’re able to walk a couple blocks.

But the number of people that lollygag their way across the street, just a block from a green light, really hurts the flow of traffic. In short, it’s the pedestrians not the cars that are the problem.

Natalie Mathison

A: There are no plans to remove one of the crosswalks, but in Campbell the design of a street is the problem.

Q: The traffic signal at south Bascom Avenue across from the Pruneyard Shopping Center is located quite a distance ahead of the pedestrian crosswalk. I have come close to being hit several times as a pedestrian crossing on a green walk signal. Why? Cars drive through the crosswalk and stop in directly in front of the signal instead of behind the crosswalk. It’s confusing to drivers and dangerous to pedestrians.

Patti ButlerCampbell

A: Matthew-the-Campbell-Road-Fixer thinks northbound motorists on Bascom aren’t recognizing that Bascom/Pruneyard is an intersection. The city will paint a 24-inch wide white limit line ahead of the crosswalk, remove the existing 4-inch lane lines that currently run through the intersection and replace them with 4-inch “skip lines” to make it look more like an intersection and less like a mid-block segment.

Gary Richards has covered traffic and transportation in the Bay Area as Mr. Roadshow since 1992. Prior to that he was an assistant sports editor at the paper from 1984-1987. He started his journalism career as a sports editor in Iowa in 1975.